Quote:
Originally Posted by thekey30
two ideas for campuses, both might suck, but here we go.
1) nap shack. a small area that could be put on any campus, that includes, bed, private area, and personalized wakeup time.
-niche market, as college kids get very little sleep and sometimes are on campus all day catching naps in awkward places/positions. for a nominal fee, based on a per hr basis, you could sleep comfortably inside a plush bed and be woken up by an employee.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nyc999
Think cost might be too much for your average poor college student, and finding the real estate can also be an issue, but cool idea.
Sounds like a close variant of the capsule hotel/sleep box/podbox business. They are very popular in Japan, other parts of Asia, and at some international airports but have generally failed to get a footing in the West. I stayed at YOtel once at Heathrow after a cross Atlantic red-eye and thought it was pretty awesome. Stuck in my credit card, got a room key, slept in a bed for 3 hours, had wifi and a toilet and a sink, left feeling refreshed, didn't have to interact with a single human being. Seems like a nice business.
I later talked to someone in the hotel industry and wondered why they weren't more popular in the West and he wasn't sure.* If you can crack that nut, there's money to be made imo. As nyc999 says, I think college campuses are too far on the low-end of the market to be viable. The Japanese capsule hotels cater to business people with long commutes who want to crash for the night after working late and don't want to take a ~2 hour long subway ride home only to have to take it back to work 4 hours later. The clientele are business people on expense accounts, or have a professional salary, and will pay just for the convenience of having a bed. Same with the ones in airports.
Doubt the model is viable for a campus where kids can walk home to crash. Maybe a commuter school.
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*My own gut theory is that the business is viable in places where reliance on public transport is heavy and the potential customers doesn't have easy access to a car or traffic in the area is terrible. For Americans, you're likely only talking about NYC/LA. It may never work in the US because we're so invested in roads and automobiles, comparatively few people are relying on spotty commuter rail service to get home. College campuses and the accompanying off-campus housing are largely walkable from end-to-end by nature so I'd be hardpressed to see college kids shelling out $5/hr for a bed when they can walk to their own in 15-20 minutes.
Last edited by DVaut1; 01-31-2012 at 02:06 PM.